We, the discoverers, are commercial stone fruit growers at Waldner Farms near Dinuba, Calf. in Tulare County (San Joaquin Valley). In 1988 we planted a 10 acre orchard of `August Red` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,363) nectarines in a cultivated area of our property. In 1993 we discovered a tree in that orchard having an apparent mutation on one of its three main scaffolds. All of the fruit on this scaffold ripened about 1 week earlier than the fruit on the other two scaffolds. The fruit on the mutated limb was virtually one hundred percent red, while the fuit on the other two scaffolds reached only about fifty percent red at full maturity. Subsequent to the discovery of this mutated scaffold, we asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting on Nemaguard rootstock. Also, we grafted scions from the mutated scaffold and `August Red`, side by side, onto a Nemaguard rootstock to substantiate its uniqueness from the `August Red`. The reproduction of plant and fruit characteristics of this newly discovered nectarine variety proved true to the original mutated scaffold in all respects. Also, one of the inventors of the `August Red`, Lowell Bradford, inspected the original mutated limb and the multiplied trees and acknowledged its uniqueness from the `August Red`. In accordoance with our observations for 5 years, we have demonstrated that the present discovery relates to a new and distinct variety of nectarine tree, which has been denominated varietally as `AUGUST FIRE`.
The present variety is most similar to the `August Red` nectarine tree by having a similar tree in size, vigor, and productivity and by producing large clingstone nectarines that are acidic in flavor, very firm in texture, and that ripen in August, but is distinguished therefrom and an improvement thereon by producing fruit that ripens about 7 days earlier and that has a much higher percent of red skin color over the surface area.